Fabric treating apparatus



Aug. 21, 1934. s L CLUETT 1,971,211

FABRIC TREATING APPARATUS original Filed April 18. 1930 2 sheets-sheetl 1 by E I* awww Aug. 21, 1934. s. l.. CLUETT FABRIC TREA'IING APPARATUS Original Filed April 18, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 f/l/fae Z. Qui/'T 1 ,dy

Patented Aug. 21, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE N FABRIC 'raEA'rrNG APPARATUS Sanford L. Cluett, Troy, N. Y., assignor to Cluett, Peabody & Co., Inc., Troy, N.l Y., a corporation of New York` 11 Claims.

This invention relates to mechanism for altering the superficial dimensions of -textile fabrics and is a division of my application Serial No. 445,300, filed April 18, 1930.

l One object of the present invention is to provide improved mechanism adapted to operate upon cloth, which may already be finished in the sense of having been bleached, mercerized, printed, dyed, calendered, starched, ironed or polished or any of these, in such a wayfas to secure and set in the cloth a maximum contraction in at-least one dimension of the web. Another object of this invention is to provide mechanism adapted to complete or supplement a state l5 of one dimensional shrinkage by causing the cloth to shrink in another dimension. Another object of the invention is thus to provide mechanism for subjecting cloth to treatment causing it to take up in at least one dimension and then to x the shrinkage in that dimension, and to do this without detriment to the eect, if present, gained by shrinkage in another dimension.

In a. preferred series of steps which can be.

carried out by the'mechanism of this invention, the cloth may be subjected to a humidifying or a moistening treatment tending to soften adhesions or stiffness caused by starchy or gummy dressings and then be caused to collapse or lie in a shorter extent in one dimension upon a suitable carrier, and concomitantly or thereafter be fixed in its collapsed state in that dimension, preferably by heat and pressure.

The invention will now be explained in connection with the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred mechanisms only by way of .illustration of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 .is a diagram in elevation of one form of apparatus of the present invention;

tudinal vertical section, of apparatusshown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged diagram side elevation explanatory of certain steps of the treatment and of certain features of the apparatus;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged transverse section of a carrier belt adapted to be used in the apparatus; I Fig. 5 is a diagram section of the fabric comparing its condition in two stages of the treatment;

Figs. 6 and 'I are respectively comparative diagrams in plan of cloth not treated and cloth after it has been treated;

55 Fig. 6a is a section either wamse or weftwise Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail, partly in longiof the said cloth in the state illustrated by Fig. 6;

Fig. 7a is a section warpwise showing the state of the cloth illustrated by Fig. 7;

Fig. 8 is a diagram corresponding to Fig. 2 showing modified apparatus; and

Fig. 9 is an enlarged diagram detail of the apparatus shown in Fig. 8.

The apparatus of this invention is adapted to perform the process described in my said application, Serial No. 445,300, to alter the superficial dimensions of cloth which has not been subjected to any shrinkage operation, or has been only partially shrunken or has been shrunken in one direction only. For comparison, as shown in Figs. 6 and 6a, a typical cloth w of simple weave may present a warp or weft system of yarns y -interengaged with a cross system or yarns y2, the relative lie,"crinkle, or arrangement of the said yarns in respect .to each other, whether they are longitudinally extending warps or laterally wefts, being such that the yarns are bent over members of the other series of yarns so as to extend from side to side of the superficial faces of the fabric and to be s0 substantially evenly distributed on either side of a medial longitudinal plane of symmetry. If such a piece of cloth w should have laid off upon it at x' a marked square, the dimension of the marked area would be changed by shrinkage. Such a change will not be effected in any manner without causing some.diiierent relation of the yarns y1 to the yarns y. This condition is true whatever the weave-construction of the fabric may be. l

Referring now to Fig. 1, a web w may be caused to enter the apparatus from the right of the iigure', whereupon in apparatus diagrammatically as illustrated at 1,. the cloth may be operated upon to cause it to shrink laterally. To this end 95 the apparatus 1 may comprise any ordinary kind of tenter having web-margin grasping devices approaching each other during travel from the entrance to the exit end of the device 1, and means for moistening and means for drying the goods during its progress from its entering width to the lexit end of said device 1wherein the effect of mgistening Aand drying without stretching will be to fix in the cloth a narrower width 1than its original or normal condition illustrated in Fig. 6. There might be .substituted for the apparatus mentioned and for the steps of treatment carried out in the said apparatus the apparatus and steps of treatment of my United States Letters Patent No. 1,837,408, dated December 22, 1931, the effect 110 of which is to set in the fabric a shrunken width by improved means. It is not, however, necessary, in the broader aspect of this invention to subject the web w to any treatment whatever prior to the treatment of the web by the apparatus about to be described, which apparatus is in specie illustration, directed to securing a shrinkage in the longitudinal dimension of a cloth web capable of such shrinkage.

The web w is worked upon to secure longitudinal shrinkage, which in the preferred case is a shrinkage to a degree corresponding to that resulting from repeated laundry treatments in use; one purpose of the treatment is to provide cloth for cutting and making into garments which will reliably retain its original longitudinal dimension in use and under repeated laundry cleansings. As exemplified by operations performed by apparatus best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, this longitudinal shrinkage treatment may comprise advancing the web to gravitational engagement with a carrier 5, which may be an endless textile fabric belt capable of resisting tension in the direction of its length, but having at least a substantial portion of its thickness capable of longitudinal collapse so as to occupy a shorter longitudinal dimension when the belt is flexed in one direction than it occupies when the belt is fiexed in another direction or is straight.

As indicated-in Fig. 1 the web of cloth w may be received on elt 5 by the operation of driven rolls 2, which dvance it without substantial stress lengthwise of the cloth. A very light tension may be placed upon the cloth by the weight roller 3; the operation of the rolls 2 may be aided by the top roll 4. The eiect of the rolls 2, 3 and 4 is to deliver the cloth at a predetermined rate, which, when the operation is continuous, may be the rate of delivery of the machine 1 on to the belt 5. The web w lies free to adjust itself on the said belt 5, hereinafter referred to as a carrier for the cloth, except as its weight and friction hold it in contact with belt 5.

Immediately upon reaching the carrier 5, the web is so treated as to secure relaxation of any stressed condition of its endwise or warp and crosswise or weft elements.

A preferred treatment of the cloth, as indicated at 10, Figs. 1 and 2, comprises the direct application to the web, as shown, to its upper face, of a fine spray or mist of water, steam or other suitable saturant capable of entering the capillary spaces of the yarns. A preferred form of moistening device 10 indicated in the drawings is a form of airblast atomizer using water, and adapted to apply a predetermined quantity according to the speed ofpassage of the cloth in order to accomplish the desired moistening or capillary filling of the yarns, and not to have any permanent detrimental effect on the attained finish of the goods, so as to leave its trade finish substantially unimpaired. I have determined by experience that these quantities can be ascertained for any particular cloth, having regard to its contained moisture when delivered to the apparatus, the temperature of subsequent treatment, and especially the distance separating the moistening station at l0 from the place where the cloth is dried, for example by application of heat, to secure the degree of effect desired. Added water to the extent of from 5 to 10 per centum of the weight of the cloth is usually sufficient for collar and shirting cloths.

The effect desired is to shrink the longitudinally extending or warp system yarns y2 by causing the collapse or take up of the yarns y2 and recession or` contraction of the distances separating wefts y (Figs. 5 and 7a) to or slightly beyond the degree which would be attained by repeated laundry washings of the fabric. Referring to Fig. 5 this is accomplished by so operating upon the cloth as to take up the crinkled warp yarns illustrated by the typical warp system member y at I in said figure, through a desired degree to occupy the shorter space of the said yarn as shown at II in said figure, in order to cause the cloth originally in the condition shown in Figs. 6 and 6a. to be longitudinally shrunken as illustrated in Figs. 7 and 7a.

To this end, after the applied moisture has sufflciently acted upon the cloth lying upon the carrier belt 5 to loosen adhesions and soften stiffening substances, the cloth is caused to adhere to or lie in frictional contact firmly everywhere with one face of the carrier belt;,'and the surface of the carrier belt and the cloth carried by it is then collapsed in a longitudinal sense; the cloth is then acted upon to dry it while it is in a collapsed state to fix it in that condition, as by the operation of heat and transverse pressure.

Referring now to Figs. 2 and 3, one device to carry out these steps with the aid of .a carrier belt may be constructed as in said figures, a preferred belt being shown in Fig. 4, which is a transverse detail section of the said belt. The object is to provide a belt 5 in which the portion 5 is flexible and resistant to tensile stress, whereas the portion 5b isequally or more flexible, is not necessarily resistant to tensile stresses, and is capable of collapse upon itself to occupy shorter` or longer length in accordance with a flexed state of the belt as a whole. Suitable structures of the belt 5 may comprise for the portion 5a any ordinary multiple-ply connected woven fabric, made of yarns of suicient size, elasticity, tensile resistance and flexibility to serve the indicated purpose. Stout cotton yarns of good quality, if desired accompanied by a longitudinal and/or transverse system of stuffer yarns, provide within the old and common knowledge of weavers a suitable fabric having the indicated qualifications. The portion 5b may be united in any usual manner, as indicated by weft floats, to the portion 5a, and may differ from it structurally only in materials from which it is made, or the Weave structure of the woven fabric constituting it; or in both these particulars. portion 5b may be a fabric having one or both systems of woolen or worsted yarns, or of cotton treated to cause fluffy softness; or having a weave structure characterized by compressibility with flexibility and thickness, which qualities, however secured, will accomplish the desired effect. For example, the section 5a may be a two-ply multiple-ply fabric interconnected by warp or weftfloats; the section 5h may be a four, six or The' more ply multiple-ply float-connected fabric; the

section 5b may be woven of a coarser gauge and have relatively a larger number of transverse or weftwise stuffer yarns than the section 5B; or the section 5b may be principally composed of longitudinally extensible stuffer yarns held between the plies of the multiple-ply structure by mere inclusion between them; in any case the portion 5*al and the portion 5b may be interconnected by floats of the yarn system of one extending into the yarn system of the other. The belt 5 may, of course, be constructed of two sep- @rate fabrics of the specified kinds respectively yll) not conjoined, o r occasionally conjoined by sewed stitches. Where the degree of shrinkage to be secured is moderate, the surfaces of any thick cloth belt may be .depended upon to collapse or contract on the concavity and stretch on the convexity of a bend. in respect to a median portion which neither collapses nor stretches', so that the concave face carrying the cloth conilned to it will constrain the cloth to contract also.

Apparatus operating substantially according to the behavior of that illustrated in Fig. 2,comprises a bed or support 12 for theocarrier 5, which bed 12 is preferably of metal, has `a plane upper surface at .13, rising to a maximum height at a point 14 preferably in a gradual curve; the bed 12 may be hollow as at 15, perforated as at 16, and the space within it may be exhausted b'y any suitable suction apparatus working through a duct indicated at 17.

In this form shown the carrier 5 runs about cylindrical rolls 20, 21 and 22, one of which is suitably driven at the described speed of delivery of the goods in the direction of the arrow a. One of the rolls, such as 20, may be subjected to spring or gravity stress in .the direction of the arrow b to keep the carrier belt 5 taut.

Above the table or bed l2 there is arranged an endless metallic, preferably polished and very thin band 25 of a strong heat-conducting metal. If a smooth, ilat surface is desired for the material treated, band 25 is of strong, heat-conducting metal, suitably polished; but if a at polished surface is not desired, this band may be a woven textile or wire cloth, or of metal having an engraved or roughened texture. The

band 25 may travel on the surface of a cylindrical roll 26 which may be stressed in the direction -of the arrows c to maintain the band 25 taut, and a hollow roll 27 which may be suitably heated, as by steam at a predetermined pressure introduced through its hollow axes, not shown. If desired, the band 25 may be further heated by a radiating heater 28 which, as indicated, may be an electric resistance heater, or might be a steam box.

The carrier belt 5, the metal band 25 and the web under treatment pass around the hot roller 27, after passing which the band 25 separates from the carrier belt 5. 'Ihe web may be delivered from the nip between the belt 5 and the band 25 after passing the roll 27 to a rotated cage roll 29 and carrier roll 30, Fig. 1, which if desired may be associated with a cloth piler 31, Fig. 1.

In operation, the moistened web w gradually approaches the nip opposite the summit 14 of the table 12 at and from which point it is under transverse (i. e. normal) but not under any kind of lateral or longitudinal pressure by the operation of the band 25. To this end the band 25 and the belt 5 travel at the same speed. Any moistened, swelled and shrunken condition of the yarns will, it will be observed, be conserved and maintained in the region between the band 25 and the belt 5. By the application of heat through the heater 28 and the hollow roll 2'7, the iinally attained state of the web will be fixed and preserved during4 passage around the roll 27. Havingregard to themoisture of and the speed of travel of the web, this passage about the roll 27 is through a sufllcient distance to set thelfibers and dry oif the moisture. 'I'he dispositions oi' the apparatus are such that the entering pressure opposite the summit 14 is light, but upon passage around the roll 27, the full tension of the carrier belt 5 is available transversely to press the web under the ironing heat developed.

Seizure of the web between the approaching runs of the belt 5 and band 25 in the manners indicated iiattensv out any small blisters or wrinkles and also prevents the web from being held back by pressure at passagev about the roll 27.

Referring now to Fig. 3, the bend of the belt 5 about the roll 27 is relatively acute. In order .to accommodate itself to this bend, the least extensible component of the belt 5, which is at section 5, and which is outside on the passage of roll 27, imposes upon the part 5b of the rela. tively thick carrier .belt necessity to collapse. The web w which is by friction and pressure uniformly adherent to the contracting' side of the belt 5 necessarily partakes of the collapsing motion of the inner surface of the carrier belt 5 which subjects the web to compression exerted parallel to its surfaces, condensing or shrinking it. The degree of this collapse is measured by the diierence between the length of any straight portion of -belt 5 which remains unaltered throughout the passage about roll 27, (in this case the stratum 5 of the carrier belt 5), and the interior circumferential extent of the inner surface of the collapsed portion 5b of the belt5. The effect of this is, as illustrated in Fig. 5, to crowd together the transversely extending yarn components of the web w and to cause the4 col` lapse by a greater amplitude of crinkle of the longitudinal yarns y2 of the web w.

The ratio of length of the web w after treatment to its length before'treatment is for these reasons the ratio between the like arcs of the circumference of the roll 27 as augmented by the thickness of the band 25, and of the bend about the roll of the taut run of the relatively inextensible element 58L of the belt 5. This in turn depends upon the thickness about the roll 27 of the element 5b of the belt 5. The expression w2`Ri is valid' for this relation where w1 is the untreated length of the web, wz is the treated length,

R1 is the radius of the roll 27 and band 25, and

R2 is the radius of the inextensible portion of `belt 5 as it goes about the roll 27.` The ratio of fixed shrinkage can be altered, therefore, by'

changing either the thickness of the portion 5b of belt 5, or by substituting a roll 27 of different diameter.

In the case of a belt `5 of homogeneous construction, in which at a bend the internal face collapses and the external face extends, there will be an intermediate stratum within the belt which neither extends nor collapses, and the ratio of shrinkage will be expressed by the relation of the radii of the inner surface of said belt and of said surfaceA which neither extends nor eollapses.

When sufficient heat is maintained in the roll 27 the fabric is dried and set in this longitudinally collapsed or shrunken state when leaving the nip between the roll 27 and the belt 5. The portion 5b at least of the belt 5 is permeable to water vapor, and any excess moisture receivel into this part of the carrier belt 5 has ample ropportunity to dry during the long exterior run ing by conduction through or convection on belt I j.

25 may be relied upon to relieve the web w of excess moisture to the point of leaving in the web w only enough moisture to enable it to collapse along with the inner surface of the belt 5 prior to fixation by the ironing heat, also transmitted through the belt 25 at the last part of its passage around the roll 27. As indicated in Fig. 7 the effect upon the goods is to cause lengthwise shrinkage, so that the longitudinal dimension :c1 of the square marked at a: on the' web, in its normal condition, as shown in Fig. 6, will have become the lesser quantity indicated.

Referring now to Figs. 8 and 9, the belt 5 may be employed in a specifically different relation 'to a pressure and heating element to effect a longitudinal shrinkage. In thiscase the belt 5 may vhave its relatively inextensible element 5' within and its extensible and .compressible element without, and be supported and operated by rolls 60 and 61, of which the roll 60 may be tensed in the direction of arrow c. The cylindrical roll 61 may be concentric with the polished cylindrical concave surface 62 of a hollow heated ironing bed 63, which may also provide'a cylindrical convex surface 64, an entering curved surface 65, and a delivery surface 66. The bed 63 may be the top of a hollow casting tapped for a steam pipe 68 and condensation drain 67. I n use, the web w is fed in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 8, past a moistening device 10 by rolls 69, to the entrance slope 65, whence it enters the nip between the outer, most expanded surface of belt 5 and the concave 62, by which the web is compressed against the surface 62. The lengthwise dimension of any unit length of the web corresponds to the circumference ofthe arc of the belt 5 to which the cloth is applied by pressure, and is represented because of the fiexure of belts 5, by the dimension d, which corresponds to a lesser length 1J of the inextensible part 5a of belt 5. The web w is, by pressure and friction, made uniformly4 adherent to the outer surface 5b of the belt 5. Then travel of belt 5 toward the convex surface 64 first causes the belt 5 to straighten, and then to fiex oppositely, whereupon the length of cloth represented by dimension d first is compressively forced to occupy the lesser dimension d1 and then the least dimension d2 opposite the convex surface 64.

The under face of the cloth carried by the belt 5 is rubbed against the polished surfaces of the hot bed 63, and is heated, dried and fixed in its shrunken condition after it has passed the convex surface 64, and is'thence delivered from the apparatus, for instance over cage roll 29. It will be observed that the apparatus of Figs. 8 and 9 utilizes the extensible and collapsible surface of a carrier belt to shrink a moist web applied to it while said surface is in a state of extension, the web being maintained in pressurecontact with said surface during its change of state to its normal and thence to a state of collapse, the web being dried and removed after completion of hot pressure in said latter state.

It will now be apparent that in operation on a cloth web, the apparatus of Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and Figs. 8 and 9, respectively, perform the same method of affecting shrinkage of the web, and that this method is characterized by exerting on all portions of the web material a pressure, at all points in directions parallel to the web surfaces, so that it is compressively condensed in the dimension in which the compressive forces are applied. By this means a yarn component, e. g., warp, is given enhanced undulation or crinkle, while another yarn component, e. g., weft, has its individual members crowded more closely together. The confinement of the web between the contractile support (surface 5b of belt 5) and an opposed abutting surface constrains the web to respond to the webwiseexerted compressive forces by internal rearrangement of its yarn components and prevents response by Wrinkling of the web as a whole.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for treating textile webs comprising in combination a support having a surface alterable by elongation and contraction, means for causing at least one dimension of said surfacey to change, press'ure means conforming to the surface of said support before and during change in dimension of said surface for pressing a textile web against said surface into frictional adhesion thereto before and during said change in dimension so as to cause the web to partake thereof, and means for fixing the web in its altered state.

2. Web treating apparatus having therein an endless carrier belt having a surface adapted to contract and expand, means for causing said belt to travel in a path such that its surface Aexpands and contracts during its travel, pressure means conforming to the path of the surface of the belt before and during contraction thereof to confine a web of cloth in frictional adhesion to the belt surface before and during contraction of the belt surface, and a stationary .supporting bed member disposed to hold the traveling belt against said pressure means.

3. Web treating apparatus having therein a carrier belt comprising a substantially inextensible element and a longitudinally extensible lam.- ina of different material having greater capacity for longitudinal deformation, means for moving the belt in a path such that the surface of said extensible lamina contracts during its travel, and means for confining a web to the contracting surface of said belt during such contraction.

4. Cloth shrinking apparatus having therein a relatively thick belt comprising a substantially inextensible portion and having a large part of its thickness of materially greater capacity for longitudinal deformation, means for moving the belt in a path such that the surface of the easily longitudinally deformable portion contracts during its travel, and means for confining a web of cloth to the contracting surface of said belt, under pressure, while said surface is contracting.

5. Cloth shrinking apparatus having therein a relatively thick belt comprising a substantially inextensible portion and having the major part of its thickness of materially greater capacity for longitudinal deformation, means for moving the belt in a path such that the surface of the easily longitudinally deformable portion contracts during its travel, and means for confining a web of cloth to the contracting surface of said belt, under pressure, while said surface is contracting.

6. Cloth shrinking apparatus having therein a relatively thick belt having extending inwardly from one face thereof a large portion of its thickness constituted of relatively easily longitudinally deformable material and including, toward the other face a longitudinal portion which is resistant to longitudinal extension, means for moving the belt in a pathsuch that the surface of said easily deformable material contracts, and means for confining a web to the contracting surface of the belt, under pressure, while such surface is contracting.

7. A machine for shrinking cloth comprising a travelling belt, a member having a smoothcurved surface adapted to receive the travelling belt, means for guiding the belt onto said curved surface, the belt having a portion adapted to resist longitudinal extension and having its thickness largely composed of material adapted for relatively easy longitudinal extension and contraction, said guiding means and` said member having curvatures such as to provide a substantial contraction of the relatively easily extensible portion of the belt Whilea web of cloth is confined to the belt by said smooth curved member.

8. A machine for shrinking textile webs comprising a travelling belt, a member having a smooth curved surface adapted to receive the travelling belt, means for guiding the belt onto said curved surface, the surface of said belt facing Said curved surface being adapted to contract and being adapted to engage a textile web between it and the said curved surface, the textile web being confined to the said surface of the belt by said guiding means and said smooth curved surface, the belt being sufficiently thick and said smooth surface having a sufcient curvature to provide, after the belt runs onto said curved surface, a substantial contraction in length of the belt surface facing said'curved surface, thereby to shrink the web.

9. Apparatus for shrinking textile webs comprising in combination a support having a contractible surface, means for causing the surface of the support to contract, and pressure means conforming to the contractible surface of the support before and during contraction of said contractible surface, said pressure means acting to confine a textile web to said surface before and during contraction thereof.

10. Apparatus for shrinking textile webs comprising incombination a moving support having a contractible surface, means for causing a change in curvature of said surface such as to cause said surface to contract, and pressure means conforming to the contractible surface of said support before and during said change in curvature, said pressure means acting to confine a textile web to said surface before and during contraction thereof.

11. Apparatus for shrinking textile webs comprising a support having a contractible surface, means for causing the surface of the support to contract, and pressure means conforming to the contractible surface of the support before and during contraction of said contractible surface, said pressure means acting to confine a textile web to said surface before and during contraction thereof, in combination with means for shrinking the web in Width prior to said contraction.

SANFORD L. CLUE'IT. 

